The Quadrantids have been known to produce 60–120 meteors per hour at their most active.
The Quadrantid meteor stream puts on a spectacular show at the beginning of January every year. The show peaks for a few hours at the beginning of the month, but then quickly fades.
The Quadrantid meteor shower actually radiate from the northeast corner of the constellation of Boötes, the Herdsman, so we might expect them to be called the “Boötids.” However, during the late-18th century, there existed a constellation in this location known as “Quadrans Muralis,” which referred to the “Mural or Wall Quadrant,” an astronomical device. Quadrans Muralis is a star pattern that was created in 1795 by J.J. Lalande as a tribute to the instrument he used to study the stars in his catalog. However, this star pattern is no longer in use.
The shower was first discovered by Adolphe Quetelet of Brussels Observatory in the 1830s, and it was subsequently observed by numerous astronomers in Europe and America. Consequently, they were named “Quadrantids” (pronounced KWA-dran-tids) and despite the fact that the constellation from which these meteors seem to originate no longer exists, the shower’s original name persists until now.
Remnants of a dead comet?
During peak activity, reports have indicated a range of 60 to 120 meteor members per hour. Nevertheless, the Quadrantid influx exhibits a distinct peak: Within a six-hour window before and after reaching maximum, these meteors of blue color manifest at half of their maximum rates.
The particle stream responsible for generating this shower is a narrow one, likely originating from a small comet within the past 500 years. The origin of the Quadrantids had been a longstanding enigma. Dr. Peter Jenniskens, an astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, observed that the trajectory of 2003 EH1, a minor asteroid found in March 2003, aligns closely with the path of the meteor shower. He posits that this 1.2-mile (2 km) fragment of rock is the origin of the Quadrantids meteor shower; conceivably, this asteroid represents the depleted nucleus of the vanished comet C/1490 Y1.
Another celestial entity that could potentially be adding meteoric material to the Quadrantids is the comet 96P/Machholz.
When and where to look
The American Meteor Society predicts that the shower will be at its strongest while you sleep on January 3rd and 4th. Northern Hemisphere skywatchers will have the clearest view of the shower between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
Broken asteroids and comet fragments disperse in dusty trails around the sun, becoming meteors in the process. Meteor showers are spectacular pyrotechnic displays created as dust and rock particles disintegrate in Earth’s atmosphere as the planet travels through the debris trails once a year.
As a result of its brief six-hour peak, the Quadrantid shower is infamously difficult to observe. Based on NASA’s calculations, the Earth swiftly passes through the densest concentration of particles at a perpendicular angle, so the peak of the shower doesn’t last as long as other meteor showers that last two days.
A meteor shower is expected to peak between 4 and 10 a.m. ET (9 and 3 p.m. Coordinated Universal Time), but viewers can expect to see meteors for hours prior to that. In North America, meteors are most likely to be visible between the hours of 1 and 5 in the morning, according to the American Meteor Society.
The North Hemisphere is more advantageous due to the earlier time. Since the radiant point of the Quadrantids shower doesn’t typically rise that high in the Southern Hemisphere sky before dawn, the meteor shower is typically invisible to observers in that region.
Moon muscles in
However, this year the moon will obstruct any attempts by would-be meteor watchers. Unfortunately, this meteor shower will not be visible due to the bright moonlight for one out of every three years.
In 2024, the moon will reach its final quarter phase approximately six hours prior to the shower’s peak. What this means is that at the crack of dawn on January 4th, there will be a brilliant half-moon (really a very wide waning crescent) in the constellation Virgo that will reach its southernmost point in the sky. The timing of this meteor shower couldn’t be better: it’ll peak just before dawn, at approximately 6 a.m. local time, when the Quadrantid radiant will be visible at its highest point, approximately two-thirds of the way up in the northeastern sky.
So, the moon will slightly brighten the sky from midnight to dawn on Thursday morning, Jan. 4, and it will likely smother quite a few of the fainter Quadrantid streaks.
When the moonlight is taken into consideration, it is possible that an observer in the Eastern United States might not see more than twenty or thirty of these blue streakers in a single hour. In the West, you could see a dozen or more Quads in an hour.
Our recommendations for the finest telescopes and binoculars will get you started on your quest to see the stars in the Boötes constellation or anywhere else in the night sky.
Wrap up warm and “shower” with a companion
Finally, I know I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: The weather where you are probably more suited to gazing at meteors than a hot bath. It is true that meteor watching during this season can be a tedious and chilly task. Meteors don’t always appear right away, and if you’re already shivering from the cold, you probably won’t stick around to watch them. Thus, ensure that you are warm and cozy. Warm beverages, such as coffee or cocoa, can both ward off the cold and give you a little more energy. If you can watch with companions, that’s even better. To cover more ground, that is the way to go.
Good luck and clear skies!
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